Combined electric fan and electric heater assembly



June '28, 1949. J, usc L 2,474,594

COMBINED ELECTRIC FAN AND ELECTRIC HEATER ASSEMBLY Filed My. 2, 1946 F165 INVENTOR.

Jomv' 7T 12.41/30 & GEORGE Tow/v5 BY f &

ATTORNEYS Patented June 28, 1949 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE COMBINED ELECTRIC FAN- AND ELECTRIC HEATER ASSEMBLY John T. Rausch andGeorge Towne, Danvil-le, Ill.

Application November 2, 1946, Serial No. 707,472.

7" Claims. 11

This invention relates to an electrician and electric heater assembly and more particularly to a combination of an. electric fan and electric heater witha stand adaptable for use as an article of furniture, the. fan being mounted beneath the top of the stand andthe heater being. mounted below the fan. The fan usedis. adapted and arranged. to draw air up from the heater and deflect it against a conical bafile. positioned directly underneath the table top..

It is. particularly an object of this invention to provide a stand serving. as a piece of. furniture which willcirculate air for coolingaroomin the summer and circulate heated. air for heating a room in the winter time.v

It is another object of. the. invention to provide means for uniformly diffusing either cool or heated air laterally and outwardly into a room whereby the user of the device can be. close to the device without being subjected to a draitin the summer time or being unduly subjected to direct warm blasts in the winter time.

Another object of the invention is. to provide fins or ribs around the fan which function solely as a guard.

Another object of the invention is to deflect heated air into a conical path in. order that the air is dispersed laterally outwardly into the room.

Another object. of the invention is to position the heating element below the fan thus avoiding the use of especially made heating elements such as an annular heating: element which would have to be used if the heating element were positioned above the fan.

Other objects, advantages and uses of our invention will become apparent by referring, to the drawings in which Figure 1 is a perspective view of the entire device.

Figure 2 illustrates the tripod in which the spider support is in turn supported by three legs.

Figure 3 is a detailed cross sectional view of a portion of the device showing the arrangement and attachment of the legs, spider, deflector and table top.

Figure 4 is a cross sectional view in elevation of the device.

Figure 5 is a plan view in which a portion of the top is cut away showingthe position of the tripod, spider and supporting legs.

Referring to the drawings, a tripod I0 is provided having a spider H in which the spider ll comprises the metal disk l2 and the laterally projecting arms 13. The legs M are attached to the projections l3 by means of the screws l5.

In the particular design illustrated and described, the top is made. of glass or other similar material. The top can be glass, plastic, polished metal" or other materials suitable for use as table tops. In the particular illustration an. underlying support I6 is provided and the support It may be made of wood, fibre or other material. The glass. I1 is placed. on top orv the support. [6 and an annular U-shapedmetaliband [8 is placed around thev glass ll? and the support Hi and the glass. held inv place. by means of, the screws ['9 which enter into the. support t6.

A conical shaped baffl'e. is provided having a flange 2i into, which. the screw 22 is, turned, the screw 22 being countersunk in the support it. An electric. motor 23, is. provided which is bolted to the metal disk l2, and, held in place by means of the bolts 24. The bolt holes throu h which the bolts. 24 pass. are shown in Figure 2 and are indicated by the numeral 25. The electric motor is thereby attached to the table top and is contained within the. conical, shaped, deflector 2&3. The shaftv 35 of, the motor extends downwardly through the baille. The fan 36 is attached to the shaft 35. The fan. 36 has blades. adapted, and arranged to draw air upwardly through they device and blow itagainstthe baffle 20 and the bafile 20 in turn directs the air outwardly and laterally into the room.

A bowl shaped heater support 25 is provided which serves a dual. function. It not only stiffens the legs, H but also serves as a support for the electric heating unit 21. An electrical wire connection 28 is provided with separate leads to the heater 2'! and the motor 23. Separate switches are provided for the motor and the heater. Switch 29 controls the operation of the motor 23 and switch 3!! controls the functioning of the heater Zl. Thus the two switches provide means for utilizing our combined assembly for both a heater and blower in the winter time. and for an air circulating fan in the summer time.

The annular ribs 3.! are spaced apart circum ferentially around the heater and fan and serve as a guard against. injury by the fan blade or burning by the heater. The ribs may be attached to the legs M individually by spot welding or by other means. They may also be attached to the vertical members 32 which may be in turn suitably attached to the legs by means of the screw 33 which also provides thesupport for the bowl 2%.

By having the heater 21 beneath the fan and having the fan adapted and arranged to blow air upwardly against the baflie 20, a single cheap heating element 21 can be used. Such a heating element as the element 2! is readily available on the market and can be purchased anywhere. If the heating element were arranged above the fan, an annular type of heating element would have to be provided which would have to be tailor made and it would be difiicult and costly to replace it when the heating element burned out. By positioning the heating element 2'! in the bottom, a single element can be used since the dispersement of the heat is obtained entirely by the fan and the baffle 20. Also, by having the motor attached to a rigid top care does not have to be taken for supporting the motor as must be taken if it is supported near the bottom. Suitable rubber snubbers 34 are provided on the bottom of the legs in order to prevent the legs from marking the floor.

Thus I have provided 18,, combined heater, fan and table assembly which can be used in homes, offices and the like.

It is distinctly understood that the above description is indicative of one form of our invention and is not to be taken as unduly limiting our invention.

Our invention is limited only by the following claims.

We claim:

1. A heater, fan and table assembly comprising a table having a top and supporting legs, an electric motor attached to the under surface of said top and depending therefrom, an air deflector in the general form of an inverted cone secured to the undersurface of said top and covering said motor, a shaft of said motor extending downwardly through said air deflector, a fan mounted on the lower end of said shaft and arranged to direct air upwardly against said deflector, an electric heating unit positioned below said fan and a support for said heating unit secured to said legs.

2. A heater, fan and table assembly comprising in combination a stand, said stand comprising a top and legs, said legs attached to said top for suporting said stand, an inverted conical shaped deflector bafile attached to and underneath said top, an electrical motor positioned within said baffle and attached to and underneath said top, said motor having a drive shaft extending downwardly through said conical bafile, a fan attached to said shaft outside of said bafile adapted and arranged to direct air upwardly against said baffle, a heater comprising an electrical heating unit, and a support for said heater attached to said legs beneath said fan.

3. A heater, fan and table assembly comprising in combination, a stand, said stand comprisll'lg a top and legs, said legs attached to said top for supporting said stand, an inverted conical shaped deflector baffle attached to and underneath said top, an electrical motor positioned within said baffle and attached to and underneath said top, said motor having a drive shaft extending downwardly through said conical baffle, a fan attached to said shaft outside of said baffie adapted and arranged to direct air upwardly against said bafiie, a heater comprising an electrical heating unit, a support for said heater, said support attached to said legs beneath said fan, a source of electrical power, an electrical connection from said fan and said heater to said source, and separate switching means associated with said connection for independently controlling said heater and said fan.

4. A heater, fan and table assembly comprising in combination a stand, said stand comprising a top and legs, said legs attached to said top for supporting said stand, an inverted conical shaped deflector baffle attached to and underneath said top, an electrical motor positioned within said baflle and attached to and underneath said top, said motor having a drive shaft extending downwardly through said conical bafile, a fan attached to said shaft outside of said baffle adapted and arranged to direct air upwardly against said baflie, a heater comprising an electrical heating unit, a support for said heater, said support attached to said legs beneath said fan, a plurality of spaced ribs arranged circumferentially around said heater and fan between said top and said heater support, and said ribs supported by being attached to the inside of each of said legs.

5. A heater, fan and table assembly comprising in combination a stand, said stand comprising a top and legs, said legs attached to said top for supporting said stand, an inverted conical shaped deflector baffle attached to and underneath said top, an electrical motor positioned within said baffle and attached to and underneath said top, said motor having a drive shaft extending doW wardly through said conical bafiie, a fan attached to said shaft outside of said baffle adapted and arranged to direct air upwardly against said baffle, a heater comprising a single electrical heating element, a support for said heater, said support attached to said legs beneath said fan, a source of electrical power, an electrical connection from said fan and said heater to said source, separate switching means associated with said con action for independently controlling said heater and said fan, a plurality of spaced ribs arranged ircumferentially around said heater and fan between said top and said heater support, and said ribs supported by being attached to the inside of each of said legs.

6. A heater, fan and table assembly comprising in combination a tripod, said tripod comprising a spider to which legs are attached, a table top attached to said spider, an inverted conical shaped deflector baiile attached to and underneath said spider, an electrical motor positioned within said bafile and attached to and underneath said spider, said motor having a drive shaft extending downwardly through said conical baflle, a fan attached to said shaft outside of said baflle adapted and arranged to direct air upwardly against said bafile, a. heater comprising an electrical heating unit, a support for said heater and said support being attached to said legs beneath said fan.

7. A heater, fan and table assembly comprising in combination a tripod, said tripod comprising a spider to which three legs are attached, a table top attached to said spider, an inverted conical shaped deflector baffle attached to and undernea-th said spider, an electrical motor positioned within said baffle and attached to and underneath said spider, said motor having a drive shaft extending downwardly through said conical bafile, a fan attached to said shaft outside of said baffle adapted and arranged to direct air upwardly against said shaft, a heater comprising an electrical heating unit, a support for said heater, said support attached to said legs beneath said fan, a source of electrical power, an electrical connection from said fan and said heater to said source, separate switching means associated with said connection for independently controlling said heater and said fan, a plurality of spaced ribs arranged circumferentially around said heater and fan between said top and said heater support, and said ribs supported by being attached to the inside of each of said legs. UNITED STATES PATENTS JOHN T. RAUSCH. Number Name Date GEORGE TOWNE. 2,046,660 Spencer July 7, 1936 5 2,405,783 Gardenhour Aug. 13, 1946 REFERENCES CITED The following referenlces are of record in the file of this patent: 

